BYGONE HULL NATURALISTS. 



III. — William Spence. 



1783-1860. 



Plate XXXI. 



MOST Hull citizens have long been familiar with the enormous 

 buildings belonging to Messrs. Blundell, Spence & Co., at 

 the corner of Beverley Road and Spring Bank ; buildings 

 which, though originally erected towards the outskirts of the town, 

 are now, by the growth of the city, becoming dangerously near its 

 centre. Few people, however, are aware of the fact that one of the 

 founders of the firm was William Spence, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c, who 

 was so well known by his entomological work. 



Spence was born at Bishop Burton, near Beverley, and lived for 

 many year in Drypool, Hull, and consequently holds a prominent 

 place amongst Hull's " Bygone Naturalists." 



From " Blundell of Liverpool, Lincoln, and Kingston-upon- 

 Hull," (1906), by Dr. G. B. Longstaff, we learn that Spence served 

 his apprenticeship with a firm of Russian Merchants and Ship 

 Owners in Hull. He married Elizabeth, sister of Henry Blundell, 

 with whom he shortly entered into partnership, a partnership that 

 lasted nearly fifty years. From 1806- 181 1, and probably later, he 

 lived at Drypool, but in 1820 he was living at 40 Dock Street. 

 For years he suffered from a severe headache, " and as a conse- 

 quence received the special permission of the Commandant to walk 

 on the ramparts of the Citadel, which afforded a quiet and secluded 

 promenade close to his house at Drypool." 



In Freeman's "Life of Kirby " (pages 317-318), we find the 

 following interesting note contributed by Spence himself: " In the 

 spring of 1814 I had the great delight to receive a long-promised 

 visit from Mr. Kirby, but which, unfortunately, the delicate state 

 of Mrs. Kirby's health obliged him to restrict to about ten days. 

 These were chiefly spent in seeing the lions of Hull and neighbour- 

 hood, and in visiting the many friends eager to pay their respects 

 to him. We did little in insect collecting, but I had the great 

 satisfaction of seeing him fish out with his own hands and secure a 

 specimen of the then rare Donatio, (Macropha) Zosterce, from the pond 

 on the banks of the Humber, a quarter of a mile from my house, 

 where I first took it, and the source for a considerable period of the 

 first British specimens." ;:; 



* The insect above referred to now appears in the British List as Hamonia 

 Zurtisi Zac. 



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